


Three idiots in the Mojave.

by ThatForestPrince



Series: Second chances. [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Amnesiac Courier (Fallout), M/M, Minor Character Death, Multi, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-17 23:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatForestPrince/pseuds/ThatForestPrince
Summary: Boone meets a peculiar stranger while on duty one night who may just end up changing his life for the better.





	Three idiots in the Mojave.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my very first Fallout fanfic, so I hope you all enjoy it! Tags and rating for this will most definitely change with each update! If you have any questions, feel free to send me an ask on my tumblr: thatforestprince

_ So make it one for my baby _

_ And one more for the road _

**_One for My Baby (And One More for the Road) - Frank Sinatra_ **

 

\----------

 

It had been a perfectly normal night in Novac. The air was cool, the night was quiet, and the stars sparkled silently above the T-Rex’s head. Just as a cool breeze blew over the sleeping little hamlet, Boone caught movement out of the corner of his eye and quickly looked over to see a small man in a black cowboy hat and an eye-bot making their way up the road that came up from the southwest.

Boone could tell by his gait that this guy was exhausted. He was hunched over and dragged his feet slightly on the broken-up road, looking like the wasteland had chewed him up to hell and back.

As the man came closer, the sniper realized that may just be exactly what happened. The man had blood splattered across his leather coat and on his face and was almost completely covered in a thin layer of Mojave brand dust, this look accented by a haunted look on his young face. Boone felt a hint of pity, thinking that maybe this kid had just come out of a vault, before he pushed the thought away. He didn’t care, he had a job to do.

Boone watched the man walk all the way to the motel before he turned away and continued to watch over the small town. As long as the kid didn’t hurt anyone, the sniper couldn’t care less about him.

\----------

The sniper didn’t see much of the stranger for a few days after that, only catching glimpses of him talking to other Novac residents such as No-Bark or Manny.

Of course, that was until about 4 days after the stranger first came into town, when Boone came out of his apartment just in time to see three rockets blasting off into the sky from the REPCONN Test Site, slowly disappearing in the sky and leaving behind trails of smoke. As expected, the sniper was on edge for the rest of the night.

A few hours after that incident, Boone was broken out of his usual trance by the sound of the door behind him opening with a soft creak. He spun around quickly, coming face to face with the stranger who seemed to have cleaned up considerably since Boone first saw him. This was exactly when the sniper realized that this guy was actually had a covering over his left eye that looked like it hadn’t been replaced in a while. “Goddamn it! Don’t sneak up on me like that. What do you want?”

The kid seemed to regard the other for a moment before speaking softly, a hint of amusement in his rough voice. “You expectin’ visitors?”

Boone almost cringed at the sound of the stranger’s voice, it sounded like someone had chopped up his vocal cords with a fan and with a quick glance to the kid’s neck, he realized that could be true. There were scars littered all across his neck that looked an awful lot like the scars of a coyote bite. What the hell kind of stories could this kid have in his arsenal? “Yeah, I guess maybe I am. No one like you though. Why are you here?”

“I’m lookin’ to help out in any way I can. Manny mentioned that you do night shifts, and I hadn’t seen you till now, so I decided to head up to see you.” The stranger certainly seemed to be telling the truth, but Boone hadn’t come across people who weren’t only concerned about themselves in a long time. However, it wasn’t often that strangers actually stopped in Novac for more than one night. This could be the perfect opportunity.

“Now that you mention it, there is something I could use your help with.”

The amusement seemed to leave the man’s face as Boone’s tone of voice changed, looking a bit more serious. “What do you want me to do?”

Right to the point, Boone appreciated that. “I want you to find something out for me. I don’t know if there’s anything to find, but I need someone to try… My wife was taken from our home by Legion slavers one night while I was on watch. They knew when to come and what route to take, and they only took Carla. Someone set it up, I don’t know who.”

“You’re trying to track down your wife?”

Boone was glad that the stranger didn’t get all sad and sympathetic about it, but the question still angered him. He didn’t want to talk about this more than he had to. “My wife’s dead. I want the son of a bitch who sold her.”

“What should I do if I find this person?”

“Bring him out in front of the nest here while I’m on duty. I work nights. I’ll give you my NCR beret to put on. It’ll be our signal, so I know you’re standing with him. Then, I’ll take care of the rest. I need to do this myself.”

“I’ll see what I can do to help you out.” That was music to Boone’s ears. The sniper carefully handed the beret over to the stranger who in turn slipped the beret into his backpack.

“Good. I’ll make it worth your while.” Boone realized then that this guy hadn’t actually asked for any caps, had he been intending to do this without any pay? “One more thing, we shouldn’t speak again. Not until this is over. No one knows that I know what happened to my wife. Best they never know, or the Legion will be after me next.”

The stranger nodded firmly in understanding, a look of determination on his face, before going back the way he came. Boone heard him share a conversation with Cliff, something about dinosaur toys he couldn’t tell, before he headed out the door and towards the motel. That was the last he saw the stranger for the rest of the night, only catching a glimpse of him talking to Manny on his way to his apartment after his shift.

\----------

The next night, at around 10:30 pm, Boone spotted a familiar figure walking out to the front of the dinosaur. It was Jeannie May with the stranger following close behind her, wearing the red NCR beret. Really? Jeannie May? He didn’t know why, but he trusted the stranger’s judgement.

Boone carefully positioned his rifle toward where the owner of the motel stood, looking at the stranger in confusion. The young man took a moment to breathe in deeply to compose himself before taking the shot. After less than a second, Jeannie May’s head exploded in a mess a blood, bone and brain matter.

The stranger didn’t even flinch, just looking down at the body for a long moment before taking off the red beret and replacing it with his black cowboy hat. He then headed back up to the dinosaur, seeming calm despite what had just happened.

Moments later, the stranger opened the door and came into the small space. Boone sighed softly before speaking “That’s it then. How did you know?”

“After No-Bark told me he saw someone headin’ into the motel lobby on the night it happened, I broke into her safe and found this.” He then handed over a small piece of paper, which Boone quickly read over.

\----------

_We, the representatives of the Consul Officiorum, have this day bargained and purchased from Jeannie May Crawford of the township of Novac the exclusive rights to ownership and sale of the slave Carla Boone for the sum of one thousand bottle caps, and those of her unborn child for the sum of five hundred bottle caps, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged. We warrant the slave and her young to be sound, healthy, and slaves for life. We covenant with the said, Jeannie May Crawford, that we have full power to bargain and sell said slave and her offspring. Payment of an additional five hundred bottle caps will be due pending successful maturation of the fetus, the claim to which shall be guaranteed by possession of this document. M. Scribonius Libo Drusus et al._

**_Administrators of M. Licinius Crassus, Consul Officiorum ab Famulatus_ **

\----------

It was a bill of sale. Jeannie May had sold his wife and their unborn child for only 1,500 bottle caps. Boone took a small comfort in that the Legion wouldn’t get what they had wanted. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, it’d be like them to keep paperwork.”

That was when the stranger gently gave Boone’s beret back to him and Boone put it firmly on his head before handing the man 100 caps. “Here. This is all I can give. I think our dealings are done here.”

The stranger gave a slightly dry chuckle as he pocketed the caps. “I didn’t do this for the money, friend. What will you do after this?”

“I don’t know. I won’t be staying, I know that. Don’t see much point in anything right now, except hunting legionaries. Maybe I’ll wander, like you.”

“Why don’t you come with me then? We can hunt the Legion together.”

“I don’t think you want to do that.”

“We’ll kill more legionaries with two of us.” The stranger gave a small, hopeful smile.

“Yeah. That might be true. And that’s reason enough for me to take you up on it, I suppose. But this isn’t gonna end well… Fine, let’s get out of here.”

The stranger’s smile grew and Boone immediately realized he may have made a mistake. Boone watched as the guy headed back out of the dinosaur, hesitating for a moment before following after him. As they were heading out of Novac on the road that headed toward Vegas, the stranger suddenly stopped and turned to look at him. “I just realized, I never told you my name. I’m Chance, it’s nice to meet you.”

Boone couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him. Even if this guy was very serious during missions, it seemed he would be like this normally. “Nice to meet you too, I guess.”


End file.
